DIYbanter - View Single Post - joining wires without a junction box within a wall

wrote:
Greetings,

What is the best (cheapest/quickest?) NEC compliant way to join two
wires within a wall that will NOT later be accessible without
disturbing the building finish?

There is no code-compliant way to make an inaccessible join, by
definition.

You can make the join in a single- or double-size outlet box (which is
properly mounted at the wall surface, as if you were going to put an
outlet there) and cover it with a blank rectangular cover, which you
can then paint or paper to match the wall, or hang a picture over.

Or if the location makes sense for it, you could make the join in an
octagonal box and mount a wall sconce fixture or an AC smoke alarm
(though the latter would technically need to be on its own 14/3 circuit
interconnected with other alarms in the house, I believe.) There are no
"pretty" blank covers for octagonal boxes.

In any case the box needs to be bonded to the circuit's ground wire.

The current method I most often see utilized in past construction is to
strip an area of insulation off of a wire without cutting it, twist
another wire around this wire with many loops and finally apply
electrical tape generously.

Yeah, we've all seen that, as well as switches and fixtures mounted in
holes in the wall with no box. I don't think it was ever code for
romex, and is the sign of shoddy work. I don't know if it was code in
in knob-and-tube days.

Chip C